Butcher&#39;s block cleaner



Feb. 19, 1935. B. CUTRIGHT BUTCHERS BLOCK CLEANER Filed March '7. 1932 2Sheets-Sheet 1 I l 011 54/?0 Gare/r 7.-

Feb. '19, 1935. a, cu 1,991,794

BUTCHER S BLOCK CLEANER Filed March 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lZLKamIEz-r5074 0 C 07/6/6177? Patented Feb. 19, 1935 OFFICE f BUTCHERS BLOCKCLEANER Bland Outright, Huntington Park, Calif. Application March 7,1932, Serial No. 597,240 1.0mm. (01.15 23) My invention relates to adevice for cleaning the surfaces of butchers blocks, meat cutting tablesand the like and has for its principal object, the provision of arelatively simple, practical and easily-operated device that includesv amotor driven rotary brush which, in operation, directly engages thesurface to be cleaned.

Further objects of my invention are, to provide a butchers blocklcleanerhaving a housing that contains a small electricmotor and a brush that isdriven by said motor and said housing being provided on opposite sideswith handles that enable the device to be readily manipulated and movedover the surface that is to be cleaned and further, to arrange on theunderside of the housing, adjacent to the brush, a pivoted jaw or framethat normally projects a short distance be lowthe housing-so as to holdthe same in position with the bristles of the brush out of contactwiththe surface upon which'the cleaning device rests and particularlywhile the cleaner is not in service.

, Further objects of my invention are, to provide a butehers blockcleaning device, having a brush that is composed of sections that areinterchangeably and reversibly mounted upon a shaft, thereby enablingallparts of the brush to be interchanged and adjusted to compensate forWear and further, to provide the cleaner with a removable receptaclethat receives and holds the sweepings from the brush and enables saidsweepings to be readily removed from the cleaner and disposed of.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists incertain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts thatwill hereinafter be more fully described and claimed and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a butchers block cleaner constructed inaccordance with my invention and with parts thereof broken away and insection.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the cleaner, with a portion of thehousing that encloses the driving shaft from the motor to the brush,removed.

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross section taken approximately on the line 4--4 of Fig.1.

. Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings which illustrate apractical embodiment of my invention, 10 designates a housing having inits rear portion an open topped motor chamber 11 and in its forwardportion with a brush chamber 12, the bottom of which is open.

Arranged within the chamber 11, is a small electric motor 13 and theshaft 14 thereof extends through one ofthe side walls of the housinginto the rear portion of a housing 15 that is located on the exterior ofthe side wall and said housing having a'removable outer part 16.

Journaled in housing 15, is a shaft 17 and th rear end thereof isconnected by suitable gear 1 18 to motor shaft 14. Thisgea-ringmay'be ofthe worm and worm wheel type or spiral gears disposed at right angles toeachother.

A readily removable housing 19 is detachably r secured in'any suitablemanner to the upper portion of housing 10 and serves as a cover for themotor chamber 11, and projecting outwardly from the side walls of thehousing 10, are brackets 20; which support'at their outer endshorizontally disposed handles 21. These handles aremanually engaged whenthe device is utilized for like.

A horizontally disposed shaft 22 is journald in suitable anti-frictionbearings 23 and which latter are located onthe end walls'of that portionof the housing that surrounds the brush chamber 12 and one end of thisshaft 22 is extended into the forward portion of housing 15 andsuitablegearing 24 connects the end of said shaft 22 with the forward end ofshaft 17. This gearing. may be of the spiral type or a worm and wormwheel.

A sleeve 25 is removably positioned on shaft 22 and which sleeve islocked to said shaft so as 0 to rotate therewith by means of a lock nut26 that is mounted on a threaded portion of shaft 22, adjacent to oneend thereof.

The ends of sleeve 25 are externally threaded for the reception of nuts27 and removablypositioned on said sleeve between said nuts, are hubs orbrush bodies 28 from which project bristles 29. These bristles may beformed of wire or from any suitable resilient material. 45

.A suitable ball thrust bearing of conventional cleaning the surfaces ofbutchers blocks and the 7 form is positioned at the end of sleeve 25opposite the end that is engaged by lock nut 26 and the balls of thisthrust bearing engage the face of nut 27 that is mounted on sleeve 25and said balls also engage a hardened metal wear receiving washer thatsurrounds shaft 22 and which bears against the adjacent wall of thehousing 10.

The inner race of this thrust hearing may be 55 secured to shaft 22 inany suitable manner, for instance, by a key or pin.

Arranged in the lower portion of brush chamber 12, directly beneath thebrush is a shallow pan-shaped jaw 30, thatextends from one end Wall ofthe brush housing to the other and formed in the bottom of this jaw isan opening 31, through which the outer ends of the brush bristles 29project when said jaw is moved upwardly toward the brush. This jaw ispivotally connected to the side walls of housing 10 by means of pins 32,which pass through the rear corners of said jaw and the end walls of thehousing 10 and passing around these pins 32 are the coiled portions ofsprings 33. The extended ends of these springs bear respectively on topof the rear portion of jaw and against a part of the housing 10 and saidsprings normally exert downward pressure on the jaw so as to hold thesame at its downward limit of movement.

Arranged for sliding movement in the lower rear portion of housing 10,below the motor chamber 11, is a drawer 34, that is adapted to receivethe sweepings from the brush and the inner end of this drawer isprovided with an inclined plate or wall in order that the sweepings mayreadily enter the drawer as they are drawn upwardly and rearwardly bythe bristles on the surface of the block, the forward portion of thedevice will be slightly elevated as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4 andthus the ends of the bristles 29 of the brush are maintained out ofcontact with the surface of the block.

The operator grasps the handles 21 and applies downward pressure theretowith the result that the resistance offered by springs 33 is overcomeand jaw 30 will swing upward a short distance,

thereby permitting the ends of the brush bristles to contact with thesurface of the block and the device is now moved forward and theengagement of the ends of the brush bristleswith the surface will verythoroughly brush said surface and the sweepings will be thrown upwardlyand rearwardly over the inner end wall 35 of the drawer and saidsweepings will accumulate in the drawer to be later withdrawn anddisposed of. Y

Inasmuch as the shaft 22 is mounted so as to be readily removed from itsbearings and the sleeve 23 is constructed so as to be removed from theshaft, the bristle carrying hubs or bodies 28 may be readilyinterchanged or reversed so as to counteract any tendency of uneven wearof the brush bristles and likewise to prevent the bristles from becomingpermanently curved in one direction due to the rotary motion of thebrush while in use.

Thus it will be seen thatI have provided a. butchers block cleaner thatis relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture,capable of being readily manipulated and very effective in performingthe functions forwhich it is intended. a

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form andconstruction of the various parts of my improved butchers block cleanermay be made and substituted for those herein shown and described withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is setforth in the appended claim..

I claim as my invention:

In a butchers block cleaner, a housing pro vided in its forward portionwith a substantially cylindrical chamber open at its bottom, a rotarybrush arranged for operation within said chamber, a shallow panlikemember positioned .in the opening in the bottom of said brush chamber,the rear end of which member is hinged to the housing to the rear of theopening in said brush chamber, said member having an opening in itsbottom for the accommodation'of the outer ends of the bristles of saidbrush and a spring arranged between said panlike'member and thehousing'for normally exerting downward pressure upon said panlikemember.

BLAND CUTRIGHTVV

